IELTS Speaking for Success - 🌷 Describe a person who likes to look after the natural world (Part 2) + Transcript

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

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Describe a person who likes to look after the natural world. You should say who this person is, what they do, how they do it, how often they do it, and explain how you feel about this person. So pretty much you talk about someone who enjoys taking care of nature, taking care of the natural world. Rory, could you give us your story? I can think of a lot of people like this in my life, but the one that stands out the most is my mum,

who is a dab hand with just about everything green, especially the stuff in her garden. She lives pretty close to my place, just in a different neighbourhood. So it's easy for me to go and visit her any time I like, and she's always pottering about outdoors. You might even say she's a, well, she has a green thumb, or something like that.

To tell you a bit more about her, apart from being my mum and good at gardening, she's been heading up the local nature club for what must be the last 20 years, give her take. That means she knows all about the local wildlife and vegetation, which lets her help out people when they need help with their own gardens. When it comes to what she actually does,

not only does she put on events with the club, but she's also got a huge garden which she's been looking after for the better part of three decades at this point. Working with lots of different flower and plant species, their exact names escape me just now, but I think they're just regular garden plants like daffodils and petunias. There are a lot of bulbs and seeds being planted and tended to, regardless. When they're ready to flower, they're pretty colourful

and attract a lot of insect species like flies and ants and beetles. and I think it makes the place look alive and vibrant with all the activity there. As for how she does it, I think it's just an everyday thing for her. She's always working away in some part of the place with different tools. Apparently the flower beds need intended with different tools. One's hedges need, but I don't know much about it, to be honest. It sounds like a lot of work, but it must be fun for her, since she seems to really enjoy herself

and there's a huge amount of free time now she's retired, which is excellent because if she didn't have this garden, then I'm not sure what she would do instead. You can always see her out there with a big smile on her face while she's working. I actually saw this yesterday when I went to visit her. It's good to know how the place is developing. In terms of how I feel about her, well, obviously I like her a lot,

but it's because she's my mum, but it's obviously good for her to have a hobby like this to keep her engaged and helping out in the local area. And it's not just about her garden. I think all the species which live there really helps a neighborhood environment too. And I hope she keeps doing it in the future. I'm quite proud of her and what she's done with her talent.

And I hope one day I can do something similar with the garden of my own. One day you're negotiating with suppliers. The next, you're installing a shelf in the back room. Running a business means moving in many directions all the time. Td's new small business banking accounts are built for how your business moves. It's how we're making banking more human. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the

archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. So, dear listener, you take Rory's story, change my mom into my friend, my father, my brother, my sister, my girlfriend, my wife, my husband, anybody, and keep the whole story. Which is exactly what I did, because I actually wanted to tell the story about my dad, but then I realized we've talked about him for the last few episodes, so we should probably give my mom some air time as well. Start off with one person who stands out the most is my friend, is my mom. Or, for example, like, one person who stands out the most at the moment is my best friend. You can make up a funny name. Like, my best friend, Josh or Caesar. You know?

Caesar, my friend, from like a few thousand years ago. Oh, my God, it's so funny. Yeah, I have a friend, Socrates. No, but maybe not Socrates. I don't know what he's saying. It's all Greek to me. Right. Yeah, who is a dab hand with everything green? Oh, Rory, why are you using such strange words? What do you mean like a dab? Dab hunt just means that you're good at something.

Deb hand towards someone who is very good at a particular activity. She is a dab hand at tennis. It sounds strange, doesn't it, dear listener. Yes, but it's informal. It's UK English, so it's good for us, and it's unusual, and the examiner will love it. You should say it exactly like this. She is a deb hand at cooking, at tennis, at gardening, at everything green. Okay, so he is a deb, deb,

hand at something or doing something. Okay. So for example, my best friend is a dab hand in the kitchen. You do need an article. A deb hand at something. But, Rory, you said with something. So she's a dab hand with everything green. Yes.

So she's good with plants. Yeah. Like she's good with plants. She's good with flowers. Or she's a dab hand in her garden. And we are talking about the natural world. So you can talk about gardening, flowers, plants. So it's not a must to talk about how your friend saves the oceans and mountains and volcanoes and forests.

Why would you say volcanoes? Because, you know, they are dying. Perhaps they don't have lava and love. They need love. And they need love. Lava. Oh, there's this cartoon. A lovely cartoon about two volcanoes.

Oh, dear listener. You should Google it. Really? Do they fall in love? Oh, yeah. It's so cute. Two volcanoes fall in love and this drama. And one volcano is singing to attract another volcano.

And he's almost like out of song, out of breath and out of, you know, love. And he sings about his love. Oh, it's so cute. I cried. Seriously, I cried. The Khatoum is actually a song, and it's about like 10 minutes, and I seriously cried. Because it's so, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it touched my soul. So, the listener, my mom lives pretty close to my place.

She's always pottering about outdoors. That's a phrasal verb. Potter about, what does it mean? Working, like, doing things. It's not very specific, is it? Doing things in the garden. Yeah, so she's always. always doing things in the garden.

She has green fingers. She's good at gardening. She's good with plants. She has a green thumb. So the usual phrase is to have green fingers, to be good with flowers, but a green thumb or green fingers. Yeah, actually, it's American English.

Rory now uses American language for some reason. I don't know what's going on. He's Scottish, but... That's why I said, or something like that. Yeah, or something like that, like fingers. You should say, Rory. She has green fingers. But now Rory is turning American. I don't know. I've never used green fingers in my life.

Really? No. Oh, wow. Okay. I don't like gardening, so that's probably why I didn't know it. And if you don't know the exact word, and if you say, or something like that, that is advanced, vague language. Yeah, but you should say it only once, not after every phrase you say. After every single word. Yeah, because some people, yeah.

Yeah, they do it. Oh, blah, blah, something like that, something like that. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. If you overuse a phrase or a linker, it's not innate, okay, for fluency. If you say, well, well, well, well, all the time, it could not be innate for fluency, dear listener. Okay, so you can say it once, twice, three times, but not more. So she has green fingers or she has a green thumb, the ability to make plants grow. Unlike Rory, who is a notorious plant murderer, Rory is infamous for killing his plants.

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So yeah, I'm getting better after killing an alloy. Like a cactus, you know. Okay, so to tell you a bit more about this person, she's my mom, she's my friend, she's good at gardening, she knows all about the local wildlife. again, words about the natural world. So she knows a lot about the local wildlife, about birds, butterflies, and vegetation.

She knows a lot about vegetation, about plants, flowers that are found in a particular area. Vegetation is C1, dear listener. Ooh, is it? Yeah, it is, according to the Cambridge Online Dictionary, because no one says vegetation. Everybody says, you know, plants. Wow, okay.

Well, they should say vegetation. They should. Also, there's another one, greenery. Can you say greenery? Greenery? Is that also a sea one? It doesn't say. Maybe no.

Like green plants, branches, ah, it's used for decoration. When it comes to what she actually does, she grows plants, flowers. She has a huge garden. and here Rory used inversion. C2 by 9. Not only does she put on events,

she also has a huge garden. So kind of not only does she, but she also has. So it's kind of not a question, but here we use it as a question. If you don't know the names for plants, you can say the exact names escape me now. So I don't know

what exactly she grows. So she grows a lot of flowers and plants. The exact names escape me now, but she has some daffodils. So for Ben 9, you should know maybe two, three words for plants. Deffodils, like please Google them. Daph four deals, D-A-W-F-O-D-I-L-S, deftils, and petunias.

Yeah, don't say roses. Come on. That's like petunious. Oh, yeah, or petunius. Like a garden plant. I mean, I don't know what they're called, but maybe that's what they're called. That's what I said. Their exact names escape me right now. So in the same way you can say or something like that, you can also say the exact word escapes me right now. She has a lot of bulbs and seeds. So a bulb... Like a big seed. Yeah. It's a before it becomes. comes a plant, it's a bulb. The place looks vibrant. So her garden, vibrant, like energetic, exciting. The garden is full of butterflies and bees and flies and everybody's happy, like, yay. Full of life. She's been working on her garden for 10 years. She has been doing it for a long time.

She has a lot of flower beds. A flower bed is a specific. place where you grow flowers, a bed for flowers. Cute. She has different tools. Don't ask me what the different tools are, though. She is retired, so she doesn't work. She's a pensioner. She's retired, and she enjoys a lot of free time.

If she didn't have this garden, she would, ta-ta-ta, instead. Like, the second conditional could be used. If she didn't have this garden, she'd sit at home, watching TV. In terms of how I feel about her, I feel happy. I'm glad that my mother has a hobby that keeps her engaged. Engaged, like she is actively involved in it. Yeah, keeps her focused.

Keeps her busy. I'm proud of her. I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of her talent. And then Rory lies This whole thing is a lie Oh yeah Yeah because like it's the father

No wait Like the father doesn't do any gardening He does yeah He does all the gardening But we spent the last few episodes Talking about my dad So I should probably talk about my mom You know

Even if it's a totally made up story Rory says like One day I can do something similar With a garden of my own What a bunch of lies Rory you will destroy like the earth. Well, that's the price that I'm willing to pay. Maybe I would say, even though I don't want to do anything like that, it's still cool. There we go. That's a more honest answer from me. Right,

you listen. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode. Okay? Bye. Bye. Rees knows a thing or two about great combinations. Chocolate and peanut butter, obviously, but there's more than one way to Rees's. From Indole. Riesces Big Cups with caramel to crunchy Reese's pieces and Reese's miniatures. There's a delicious Rises for every mood. It's the same combo you love, just with more ways to enjoy it. So whether you're snacking, sharing, or just treating yourself, nothing else is Rises.

Describe a person who likes to look after the natural world. You should say who this person is, what they do, how they do it, how often they do it, and explain how you feel about this person. I can think of a lot of people like this in my life, but the one that stands out the most is my mum, who is a dab hand with just about everything green, especially the stuff in her garden. She lives pretty close to my place,

just in a different neighbourhood. So it's easy for me to go and visit her any time I like, and she's always pottering about outdoors. You might even say she's a, well, she has a green thumb or something like that. To tell you a bit more about her, apart from being my mum, and good at gardening. She's been heading up the local nature club for what must be the last 20 years,

give or take. That means she knows all about the local wildlife and vegetation, which lets her help out people when they need help with their own gardens. When it comes to what she actually does, not only does she put on events with the club, but she's also got a huge garden which she's been looking after for the better part of three decades at this point, working with lots of different flower and plant species. Their exact names escape me just now, but I think they're just regular garden plants like daffodils and petunias. There are a lot of bulbs and seeds being planted and tended to, regardless.

When they're ready to flower, they're pretty colorful and attract a lot of insect species like flies and ants and beetles. And I think it makes the place look alive and vibrant with all the activity there. As for how she does it, I think it's just an everyday thing for her. She's always working away in some part of the place with different tools. Apparently the flower beds need to be intended with different tools. One's hedges need, but I don't know much about it, to be honest. It sounds like a lot of work, but it must be fun for her,

since she seems to really enjoy herself and there's a huge amount of free time now she's retired. which is excellent because if she didn't have this garden, then I'm not sure what she would do instead. You can always see her out there with a big smile on her face while she's working. I actually saw this yesterday when I went to visit her. It's good to know how the place is developing. In terms of how I feel about her, well, obviously I like her a lot, but it's because she's my mom, but it's obviously good for her to have a hobby like this to keep her engaged and helping out in the local area. And it's not just about her garden.

And I think all the species which live there really helps a neighborhood environment too. And I hope she keeps doing it in the future. I'm quite proud of her and what she's done with her talent. And I hope one day I can do something similar with the garden of my own. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

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